Islam and Public Controversy in Europe

Description

The public visibility of Islam is becoming increasingly controversial throughout European countries. With case studies drawn from France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK, this book examines a range of public issues, including mosque construction, ritual slaughter, Sharia councils and burqa bans, addressing the question of 'Islamic difference' in public life outside the confines of established normative discourses that privilege freedom of religion, minority rights or multiculturalism. Acknowledging the creative role of dissent, it explores the manner in which public controversies unsettle the religious-secular divide and reshape European norms in the domains of aesthetics, individual freedom, animal rights and law. Developing an innovative conceptual framework and elaborating the notion of controversy as a methodological tool, Islam and Public Controversy in Europe draws our attention to the processes of interaction, confrontation and mutual transformation, thereby opening up a new horizon for rethinking difference and pluralism in Europe.
As such, it will appeal to scholars across the social sciences with interests in religion, integration, cultural difference and the public sphere.

About Author

NilA fer GA le is Professor of Sociology at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris.She is the author of Islam in Europe: The Lure of Fundamentalism and the Allure of Cosmopolitanism and The Forbidden Modern: Civilization and Veiling.

Contents

Contents: Part I Controversies and Publics: Introduction: Islamic controversies in the making of European public spheres, Nilufer Gole; How do you become contemporary? On controversies and common sense, Olivier Remaud; Secularism and/or cosmopolitanism, Etienne Balibar. Part II Public Islam, Piety and Secularity: Self, Islam and secular public spaces, Jocelyne Cesari; The mosque and the European city, Nebahat Avcioglu; Conflicts over mosques in Europe: between symbolism and territory, Stefano Allievi; The secular embodiments of face-veil controversies across Europe, Schirin Amir-Moazami. Part III Islam, Art and the European Imaginary: Representing prophets and saints in Islam: from classical positions to present-day reactions, Silvia Naef; Islam in the mirror of our phantasms, John V. Tolan; The case of the Danish cartoons controversy: the paradox of civility, Sune Laegaard; Halal arts: censorship or creative ethical practice? Jeanette S. Jouili. Part IV Halal, Sharia and Secular Law: Competing Sources of Normativity: The British debate over sharia councils: a French-style controversy?, Jean Philippe Bras; Ethics and affects in British sharia councils: 'a simple way of getting to Paradise', Julie Billaud; The eclectic usage of halal and conflicts of authority, Rachid Id Yassine; Animal rights movements and ritual slaughtering: autopsy of a moribund campaign, Florence Bergeaud-Blackler; Halal circle: intimacy and friendship among the young Muslims of Europe, Simone Maddanu. Part V European Genealogies of Islam and Politics of Memory: Medieval Spain and the integration of memory (on the unfinished project of pre-modernity), Gil Anidjar; The contemporary afterlife of Moorish Spain, Charles Hirschkind; Fugitive or cosmopolitan: the Bosniaks' desire for Europe and trouble with the Ottoman past, Halide Velioglu; Index.